- Blood pressure:
This number should be number one on
your list! Uncontrolled high blood pressure is a precursor to such stroke and
heart attack. The terrible thing is that this chronic condition has virtually
no symptoms! So do invest in a blood pressure monitor, it just might save your
life. Conversely low blood pressure can also be dangerous, as it causes dizziness
and people with this condition are at risk. Try to control your intake of salt and
alcohol and watch your stress levels. Your key numbers are blood pressure
readings of between 90/60 and 120/80.
- Heart rate:
Your heart rate indicates how much
work your heart ids doing to pump blood. Heart rate as far as this blog is
concerned refers to your resting heart rate (when you are at rest), a heart
rate that is too high or too low is an indicator of a serious heart condition and
you should see a doctor, you can find your heart rate by taking your pulse,
from the inside of your left wrist and count the beats per minute using your
phone’s stop watch. The magic numbers to watch out for are a heart rate of
between 60 and 100 beats per minute.
- Blood sugar:
High blood sugar has become one the
greatest health issues of our time, it’s a growing epidemic and the bad news is
that there is no end in sight! It is the precursor to diabetes which has
reached epidemic proportions in the world today. There is sugar in so many
processed foods that you just cannot avoid it. My advice to you is to eliminate
or at worst limit the amount of sugar you knowingly consume, and to avoid as
many processed and packaged foods as you can. Try to eat an African diet (your
amala/pounded yam eating ancestors were not diabetic!), also do invest in a
blood sugar monitor. The magic numbers are between 3.5 and 5.5.
- Sleep:
This addition to the list will
surprise you but sleep is so highly underrated that I just had to include it. Sleep
affects you in many ways. Lack of sleep affect blood pressure, weight
gain/loss, growth, digestion ,calorie intake, metabolism etc. the problem is we
are so used to being sleep deprived that we don’t even know it! Science cannot
agree on the exact numbers you need, but a general consensus is that a minimum
of 6 hours a night for good health.
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